Grilled Chicken Avocado and Radish Salad

I can't say that this is a well-thought out salad. It was born most likely out of convenience or maybe even happenstance. One of those moments when you open the fridge and take out whatever fresh vegetables you have and chop them up nice and crisp. You then proceed to stand back and observe the color palette to make sure its balanced, not too much green, adding a little red and orange and wishing you had bought yellow bell pepper to round it all off. Yes, I eat based on how my food looks. Salads need to be fun, colorful, and vibrant. Pretty. And pretty appetizing.

This one didn't disappoint.

I didn't expect to like it so much that I would blog about it. But when you're on a Clean diet, salads are exciting.

This concoction is a perfectly healthy, satisfying lunch. Or dinner. Or breakfast. (Who made up these arbitrary rules appointing certain foods to varying times of the day, anyway?)

It combines different textures and flavors: from the crunchiness of the lettuce, to the softness of the ripe avocado. From the nuttiness of the seeds, to the tanginess of the green onions. You'll find it quite gratifying.

Crunchy. Soft. Nutty. Tangy. You're really off to a promising meal.

Just so you know, this salad is packed with protein: those little black dots aren't cracked pepper, they're chia seeds. You also have some sunflower seeds hiding somewhere in there. I topped it off with cast iron-grilled chicken breast and a generous sprinkling of fresh herbs. Yum, if I should say so myself.

Enjoy making this and sharing it. You can easily use your leftover meat from the BBQ you were enjoying with your dad yesterday. (Happy father's day, by the way, for those who celebrate it.)

And anyway don't we all need to get back into sensible eating after overindulging at the dessert table? Just saying...

Grilled Chicken Avocado and Vegetable Salad

Serves 2

Ingredients:

2 large piece of chicken breast, grilled

1 head of romaine lettuce

1/2 cup of carrots, chopped

6 radishes, sliced

3 green onions, finely chopped

1/2 an avocado

1 cucumber, sliced

a handful of parsley and cilantro, chopped

1 tablespoon of chia seeds

1/2 tablespoon of sunflower seeds

and my classis go-to dressing: LOSP

lemon, olive oil, salt and pepper! Easy, light, flavorful, and healthy!

Directions:

Combine everything in a bowl, toss with dressing. Serve.

You might have noticed I didn't include tomatoes. At the time I made this, I was in the midst of my Clean diet, and so tomatoes were not allowed. Now that I am post-Clean I would include ripe, sweet, cherry tomatoes. Love those.

{Bon Appetit}